Walking Down Azalea Paths
by calatrava
Summary: Promises are hard to keep. Naruto knows this but finds that things can be deceptive and fluid, especially when the wishes of others conflict with his. Juggling his wants and needs leads to some shocking revelations and nothing seems the same anymore.


**Walking Down Azalea Paths**

A/N

Something new. Something different. Something not for kids.

Dialogue normal/external speech  
_Dialogue_ inner thoughts  
_**Dialogue**_ Kyuubi speaking aloud  
Dialogue Kyuubi thinking/musing

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It remains the intellectual property of their owners. Which is not me.

Chapter started: 15Aug09  
Chapter completed:20Aug09

* * *

**Chapter One**

**Mizu no Kuni  
Undisclosed Location**

"Stop her!"

The harsh words were shouted with a prevailing undercurrent of desperation. She could barely hear the tread of soft soled boots and sandals as people began to converge upon her location. She lashed out and caught one of the men with a blow to his temple, dropping him like a sack of rice. Swearing internally she grabbed his headset and began to run to the only safe place left for her.

Listening out for any communication on the radio net, her eyes darted everywhere for the access point into the hidden room that she had prepared for one of those events. An event where everything went to hell in a hand basket and there was no coming back. With her mind map clear in her consciousness, she quickly found the room that she was looking for. Once inside she slammed her hand against an engraved stone button, pushing it into the wall. Channelling her chakra into the engraved seal, it glistened for a moment before shutting the door without a sound. Tertiary seals activated into hiding the chakra signatures within, while hardening the stone barrier to outside assaults.

_Damn it! Damn it!_

Cursing the fact that she was out of time and choices, the young woman took deep breathes before focusing upon the more immediate problem in front of her.

_Alright. I got selfish and fucked everything up. I have to do this.__ This is all my fault. _

Her mind was still in a daze as she remembered the events leading up to her current predicament. Fear began to grip her as an all powerful chakra signature burst up near her, dwarfing everything around it. Eyes widening in terror, she felt the malignant, unearthly force compressing onto her general location. The young girl's breathing became laboured as she tried to control her fear.

She bit her lip subconsciously as she started to channel her chakra into a jutsu that she had never tried out before. Something that had consumed her mind ever since she had figured out that it could get her out of a tight spot.

_Maybe, maybe this can give me more time_

In a state of incredible desperation, her fingers started to tremble as they hesitantly formed seals that she had memorised while on the run. They were coming for her and would not stop until she was retrieved. Gaining speed, her digits started to blur as her training took over.

_One thousand, two thousand, three thousand-_

She recited the numbers like a metronome, to keep her jutsu stabilised. Unlike other techniques that could be brought out without any regard for speed, the one she was relying upon depended on a preset tempo that she could not hurry.

The sound of burst doors threatened her concentration, as well as the sound of flashbangs as the opposing forces came closer and closer. There was no method of escape available to her.

_Seventy five thousand, seventy six thousand..._

Fingers becoming numb, she could feel her life force being drawn from her body with grim satisfaction. Physical and mental energy began to mix into the force known as chakra, aided by her natural gifts.

"Three, we found a sealed room. Preparing to breach."

_Fuck!_

No sooner as the words were relayed over the net where explosive tags where placed onto the stone door.

"Fire in the hole!"

The resulting explosion forced the door to distort badly, but it held on nonetheless. She breathed out a relieved sigh as her fingers moved by themselves.

_Crap. That won't take another blast._

"One, door still upstanding. Increasing payload."

Knowing that the next blast could send all sorts of shrapnel into her body, she hid behind an overturned bookshelf as the last seals were being completed.

_Done-_she thought with excitement.

"Fire in the hole!"

Before her entire world was engulfed by fire. The remnants of the stone door was pushed into the room as slivers of concrete pelted her location and sent dust everywhere. Her eyes were slightly blinded, her eardrums ringing as she saw metallic canisters being rolled into her space.

A searing white light engulfed the room as magnesium was ignited to its flashpoint. Her vision was locked into place as she hurriedly closed her eyes. While that managed to preserve her vision somewhat, her eardrums nearly exploded by the concussive force of the grenade that disorientated her for a moment. Knowing that she had nothing left to spare she leaped towards her self-made exit.

"Target under bookshelf and in sight! Proceeding to subdue-"

A gate opened in front of her with a screech and rush of wind, which she looked at in relief. Dashing forward as men tried to grab her, their movements became clumsy as everything seemingly slowed down to the girl. She could see the harsh faces concealed by face mask as she rushed triumphantly towards her salvation. Jumping through, she could hear violent curses as it closed behind her.

She had done it.

The girl was grinning madly before vertigo started to hit her and it become increasingly hard to see.

* * *

**Hi no Kuni  
Konoha  
Hokage's Office**

"Are you sure that this is necessary?"

Senju Tsunade looked at her old teammate in confusion as he laid out his needlessly complex and contrived plan to train Naruto in front of her. A blistering headache started to develop as the logistical nightmare of losing the jinchuuriki began to descend upon her.

Konoha's resident spymaster did not seem to notice or care as he looked at her expectantly.

"Of course I am, Mune-hime! After all I made up this plan," he answered with self assurance.

"So remind me why I should remove Naruto from the protection of our walls and have him ... gallivant across the Elemental Nations in a thinly veiled attempt to hide your mid life crisis," she shot back with a smirk.

The white haired man flustered a bit before shrugging his shoulders, "It gets him out of the way for you to consolidate your power base against the village council."

"I don't see what the problem is with those dinosaurs," she complained.

"Besides that fact they have probably suborned half your ANBU?" Jiraiya pointed out seriously.

She scowled at that and cursed Sarutobi's name under her breath, "What the hell was that old man thinking?"

"You have to be more specific than that."

"How could he let civilians, _civilians_," she spat out the word like it was cursed, "get control over the ANBU? Are we not a military village founded by the blood of my family? How dare they!?"

The Toad Sannin gave her a sympathetic look before scratching the back of his head, "Who knows? The old man was a big fan of separation of powers, or some crap like that. He felt that he could draw on their expertise in some matters-"

"What expertise? What makes them experts on doing anything shinobi related? They are just a bunch of fat merchants!"

"It wasn't always like that," Jiraiya defended, "they were initially retired shinobi and the like before things got out of hand. And it was only a recent thing."

"Ten years is not recent," she hissed out as she looked at the 'requests' on her desk, stomping the urge to simply burn them. She dared not until she seized the heart of the rot and squeezed it tight.

"Well, who knows when it began? The ANBU were not that blatant about their divided loyalties and it's hard to say what happened. Some of them were probably seduced by money and influence that they had, which was quite substantial. Especially ones under Konoha Treasury and Finance."

"Who can I trust then?" she asked plaintively.

"There are still a few good men," he began.

She shot him a scathing look before he corrected himself.

"And women that still remember what it means to swear an oath."

"Who are they?" demanded Tsunade.

"Uzuuki Yuugao for one. Mitarashi Anko is another, though her true loyalty was to Sarutobi but that can be transferred over to you if you treat her the right way."

"Any others?"

The man closed his eyes and tried to remember, "There are others. Mostly of the lower ranks. Your family name will help you a lot. And there are other jounins around that can help."

"How about Hatake Kakashi?" she asked pointedly.

Hearing that man's name made Jiraiya's face go flat, "... Perhaps."

"Do you not like him?" the Hokage asked with some surprise.

"Trust me, I have issues with the way Naruto was trained for me to be happy with him. If I knew better I would have come back to Konoha sooner," he muttered darkly.

"Is that the real reason why you are taking Naruto out of the village? To show him that you can do a better job?" Tsunade enquired with a grim look in her eyes.

"Partially," he responded freely, "but there are some things that we cannot do in Konoha. Too many eyes and ears around. Hell, it's hard enough to get Naruto to be quiet about his skills than to advertise them to Akatsuki. There are other reasons as well."

"Yes, I'm sure that releasing the Kyuubi's chakra may be a somewhat sensitive thing around Konoha."

With a tight smile he nodded, "Yeah, there's that. Which is why I need him out of here. It's the only way that he can master the yang side of the Kyuubi no Yoko."

She looked at him like he was crazy. Jiraiya noted that the look was getting quite familiar to him.

"Are you stupid? Why the hell do you think that is a good idea?" she demanded. The thought of Naruto using the alien and frankly demonic chakra as his own scared the Hokage.

"Minato would have wanted it, and he will need it anyway."

"Well yes, Minato would have wanted many things, but it's funny how most of that was ignored," she replied pointedly.

Wincing slightly, Jiraiya shook his head stubbornly before protesting more, "The thing is that the power is his. Once he learns it there won't be a thing that can scare him afterwards. Add to that some senjutsu training to keep himself grounded then Akatsuki are just a bunch of overgrown children. He will surpass all of us."

Seeing the confidence in his eyes made her shiver a bit.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure that anyone should be given that kinda power," she replied softly.

"Naruto can. He's the only one that could do it without going bad."

She gave him a gentle smile before her eyes clouded up in memory.

"I think you might be right," Tsunade agreed dreamily.

"What the hell are you fantasising about?" he asked.

The blond gave him a wicked smile before walking off, a smirk on her lips as Jiraiya tagged behind like a lost puppy.

"Hey, what's so funny?"

"Oh nothing," she said innocently.

"Yeah right. No, tell me!" he whined.

"I'm just thinking about how manly our boy will be when he returns," the Senju responded in an off-handed manner.

"Shotacon!" he accused with a snort.

"Maybe," she allowed, "but I just realised that having Yamato go with you might be a good idea."

"No."

"No?"

The sage shook his head vehemently before whispering, "I'm not sure that he is clean. And it's easier for two men to wander around the place than three. No. We do this my way and in three years time we will come back."

"Why are you so insistent on going by yourself?" she asked with exasperation.

"It's for security and need to know basis. Only you and Shizune need to know at the moment," he pointed out.

"Well," Tsunade ground out in exasperation, "how about the friends that Naruto will tell about his little trip?"

Jiraiya's eyes grew sad as she asked her question, taking out the anger in her sails.

"Do you know how many friends he has?"

"With his personality? Stubborn, loyal and hardworking? Able to crack a female's heart with lots of fighting involved?" she asked cheekily.

The white haired man looked at her softly before sighing, "Two."

That stopped the Hokage in her tracks, "Two?"

"Yeah," he laughed bitterly, "just two. Even after he saved the village from Gaara and everything else. He hasn't had much of a childhood to speak of. Add to that little to no training, he doesn't have a lot to live for."

"So is this what the trip is for? To bond with your godson?" she asked wily.

"That's a part of it," he agreed.

"Ok fine. You can leave. But you will not corrupt him with your perverted ways!" she ordered.

With a shit eating smile he walked away as Tsunade grew increasingly concerned.

"Jiraiya! You will not turn him into a pervert! Kami help you if he returns to us not a virgin!"

* * *

**A/N**

Welcome to the new ride.


End file.
